The document “Real-time free-viewpoint viewer from multiview video plus depth representation coded by H.264/AVC MVC extension, by Shinya Shimizu, Hideaki Kimata, and Yoshimitsu Ohtani, NTT Cyber Space Laboratories, NTT Corporation, 3DTV-CON, IEEE 2009” describes 3D video technologies in addition to MPEG coded video transfer signals, in particular Multi View Coding (MVC) extensions for inclusion of depth maps in the video format. MVC extensions for inclusion of depth map(s) video coding allow the construction of bitstreams that represent multiple views with related multiple supplemental views, i.e. depth map views. According to the document depth maps may be added to a 3D video data stream having first video information representing a left eye view on a 3D display and second video information representing a right eye view on the 3D display. A depth map at the decoder side enables generating of further views, additional to the left and right view, e.g. for an auto-stereoscopic display.
Furthermore, the 3D video destination device may have, for providing destination depth data such as a depth map, a 2D to 3D converter for generating 3D video data from a 2D video signal, or a depth map generator for generating a depth map from a video signal comprising a left eye view and a right eye view.